Travel tidbits from my life

Why You MUST Buy Travel Insurance

What if something happened to you while you were traveling in a foreign country? What if you needed medical care? What would you do?

Would your medical insurance cover you? Most likely not. Most health insurance from the US does not provide coverage outside of the continental US. Or, they may say they do, but have you ever tried to find a network provider for your plan in Timbuktu? It’s very likely there isn’t one.

So, if you have an illness or injury, are you prepared to cover the cost out of your pocket? As in up front, in order to get treated? What if you were in a bus accident, rendered a little loopy from a head injury, in a country that may not have many English speakers? Would you be able to make the necessary arrangements to get your injury paid for in advance and treated?

Since our domestic insurance doesn’t work in foreign countries, most hospitals would require you pay for your treatment in full, sometimes before they will even give you so much as an aspirin. Most of them will require cash, a few will take credit cards. But considering how quickly medical costs can add up, do you really carry enough cash on vacation or have enough available credit on your Mastercard to cover a sizeable claim? Then, when you do get home, do you really have the time to wait to “maybe” get reimbursed by your insurance only to find out it all applies as non-network benefits, meaning reduced reimbursement? Of course, hopefully you remembered to ask for an itemized bill translated into English when you paid your claim or that could add more time to your reimbursement.

This is where travel insurance could be one of the best decisions you may ever make. Most policies can:

help transport you (and even family members) home as soon as you are stabilized

Some policies even build in some non-medical benefits such as:

assistance recovering stolen passports or other documents

help coordinating emergency funds transfers

legal referrals

coverage for lost or delayed baggage

even reimbursement for trip cancellation or interruption

While I don’t usually consider the non-medical benefits when purchasing trip insurance– I want it to cover the big ticket items and get me home in an emergency–it is nice to know that the non-medical perks are there.

Most policies can be purchased for the price of a tank of gas for your car. When pricing policies, here are the ones I like:

UHC GLOBAL–it’s a subsidiary of United Health Group. They have a pretty rich travel plan that recently priced a $1,000,000 policy at $30 for a 1 week trip to Mexico.

GEOBLUE–a subsidiary of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. They offer various coverages such as vacation, long-term multi-trip, and expatriate. They do require that you also already have a primary health plan, but it does not need to be an Anthem plan. Their coverage was also for $1,000,000 in medical for $25 for the same 1 week trip to Mexico.

WORLD NOMADS–their plan came in a little higher for the same Mexico vacation at $69 for a $100,000 plan. However, WORLD NOMADS also offers the flexibility of extending your coverage while you’re already using it.

You enroll for any of these plans easily online, choosing your deductible and amount of coverage. All of these carriers also have an option for long-term coverage, up to 90 days continuous, that can run through a full year at a time.

Considering the costs of a serious, high-dollar claim, these premiums add value. Even if you never use the insurance while abroad, you’ve still purchased some valuable peace of mind.

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We take out travel insurance if we are flying anywhere because if someone gets sick and we can’t make it, at least we get our ticket price back. Otherwise, though, if we are driving in the U.S., Medicare is good everywhere. So my answer is “outside US”? Absolutely. In the country? Maybe. It depends.

Yeah, a travel insurance is a must – not only for countries where you have to prove that you actually have one (Cuba for example). But of course others too! Better safe than sorry: You try lots of new activities during a trip and may risk to injure yourself